Meeting the mother
by Skovko
Summary: Braun has never met Lina's mother despite being together for three years. Now that they're getting married, he keeps pushing for her to reach out to her mother. He doesn't want her to regret not having her mother at the wedding. She finally caves in and gives him what he wants. It doesn't take long for him to see that he was wrong.
1. Money

"Jesus fucking Christ, Braun, why is this so damn important to you?" Lina asked annoyed.

Her hazel eyes settled on his. She tried to look angry but there was more hurt in that look than anger. He watched his beautiful, honey blonde girlfriend, soon to be wife, and let out a sigh. She had asked him numerous times to let it go but he continued to bring it back up.

"I just don't want you to regret not having her at our wedding," he said.  
"Like she regretted having me?" She asked.  
"I'm sure she didn't. She loves you in her own way. How can she not? You're perfect. I love you," he said.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. Despite them being together for three years, he still hadn't met her mother. She didn't talk much about her mother. They had a bad fall out around six years ago and they hadn't spoken since.

"Lina," he said. "Talk to me, babe."  
"She's a greedy bitch always trying to scam people out of money," she said.  
"You've said that many times but that's all I know. What happened between the two of you?" He asked.

She shifted in his arms, cuddling up closer to him. He held on to her a little tighter. She needed the comfort, warmth and love he could give and he would never deny her any of it.

"She's so fucking naive too," she said.  
"A naive scammer. That's new," he chuckled.  
"She's not a scammer. She just demands money and gets mad if you don't give it to her," she said.  
"So you denied her money?" He asked.

She took a few breaths and sighed.

"She fell in love with a Nigerian prince online," she said.  
"Fucking Christ!" He shook his head.  
"I told her over and over how that's one of the most famous online scams but she refused to believe me. They were in love and he had money. He was gonna move here and be with her and blah blah blah. He just needed some money because his assets were currently frozen do to whatever. I stopped listening at that point," she said.

She placed a hand on his chest and leaned her head on his shoulder. He continued to hold her. She clearly needed it.

"So she sent him money. Of course she did. She's a fucking idiot. And soon she was out of money but he still wanted more so she turned to me and asked for my money," she said. "She said, and I quote, why make all that money wrestling when you're not spending them? You're such a selfish, little bitch who only cares about your own happiness."

That angered him a bit. Lina was anything but selfish. She often bought something to eat or drink for homeless people. She donated money to shelters. She even had four adopted cats and an adopted rabbit. She always went out of her way to help people if she could.

"She told me to give her my money or get the fuck out of her life," she continued. "So I walked."  
"Oh, babe," he kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry to hear that. But maybe enough time has passed. Maybe you can reconcile after all these years."

He felt her tense up. He wasn't sure why he still pursued this. He wanted her to have the wedding of her dreams and he was scared she might look back on it with regret if she didn't at least try to reach out to her mother.

"Fine," she gave up. "You wanna meet her, let's go meet her then."  
"Right now?" He asked.  
"Why not?" She shrugged. "Let's get it over with."


	2. Done

Braun wasn't sure what he had expected. Clearly not this. He and Lina were standing a bit away, looking at the homeless woman standing on the street with a shopping cart full of useless items. She had a scarf around her head to shield herself from the wind.

"Fucking Christ, Lina. Why didn't you tell me she's homeless?" He asked.  
"I didn't know until a few months back when I walked past her by accident. She didn't notice me. She was too busy screaming at some poor lady in a red suit to give her some money or burn in hell," she said. "She still has her charm apparently."

That made him chuckle. She didn't chuckle herself. She took a deep breath and started walking towards the woman. He followed next to her, wondering how much they would look alike. As they came closer, he could see the woman's hair was grey under the scarf. Her dark brown eyes settled on him.

"What?" She barked.

She turned her hard gaze from him and over to Lina. It was clear she recognized her own daugher but her eyes didn't go soft.

"What do you want?" She asked.  
"Braun, meet my mother Cindy," Lina said.  
"Braun? What a stupid name," Cindy said mockingly. "And he's ugly too. At least tell me you scored someone with money."  
"Because that's all you ever care about," Lina said.  
"Gotta know what's important in life," Cindy said.  
"God forbid the daughter you chose to bring into the world would be important to you," Lina said.

Cindy smirked at her daughter and took a step forward.

"You were nothing but an inconvenience. Always trouble. Wouldn't sit still and be pretty for pictures. And you were so damn pretty. All the photographers loved you but you were a brat," she said.

Braun knew Lina had been a child model. He also knew that she hated it. She hated anything poofy and girly. She even refused to wear pink because of all those damn pink princess dresses she had been forced into as a model.

"And what happened with all the money I made by doing that?" Lina asked.  
"They were mine!" Cindy growled. "You were mine! Anything you did and earned was mine! You didn't deserve a penny!"

Lina turned to look at Braun with tears in her eyes. He suddenly felt guilty and stupid at the same time. He had forced this on her by constantly nagging about fixing things with her mother. There was no fixing anything. Her mother had one too many screws loose.

"Can we go now?" Lina asked.  
"Yes," he answered. "I'm sorry, babe. I didn't know. I didn't mean to. I didn't want... Fuck! I'm so sorry."  
"It's okay. I needed to see she hasn't changed," Lina said.  
"Bitch!" Cindy snarled. "Still think you're better than me, huh?"  
"She is!" Braun snarled back.  
"At least give me some money for food," Cindy tried.  
"She ain't getting shit from me," Lina looked at Braun. "What you do with your money is your call but I'm done. I was done years ago and I'm still done."

He smiled at his fiesty girlfriend, took her hand and turned to walk away.

"Selfish, little bitch! We're family!" Cindy yelled.  
"No, I'm her family!" Braun yelled back. "You're just a random woman that gave birth to her. Nothing more."

He held on to Lina's hand as they walked away together. They turned a street corner and he pulled her into his arms right away. He knew she would break down the second she was out of sight of her mother, and he was right. She cried into his jacket, wrapping her arms around him to get that comfort, warmth and love he always gave.

"I'm sorry, babe," he said.  
"No, it's fine. In a strange way I needed this. I needed to see she was everything that I remember and that I wasn't wrong. That I didn't make her worse in my head over the years," she said.  
"She's fucking horrible," he chuckled. "She's the type people talk about when they say they got a crazy mother in law."  
"You're still marrying her daughter," she smirked at him.  
"Family is what you make it," he kissed her. "You, me and all our fur babies. We're a family."


End file.
